


The Incredible Spider-Woman

by JustASpiderGirlInASpiderWorld



Category: Original Work, Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Gen, New York City, Romance, Slow Build, Story Arc, Superheroes, Villains
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:28:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28605246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustASpiderGirlInASpiderWorld/pseuds/JustASpiderGirlInASpiderWorld
Summary: Taylor Todd is a happy twenty-two year old, fresh graduated with her Master in Biochemical Sciences with a wonderful boyfriend to boot. While working on a research project with her mentor Dr. Kippers, a previously thought to be insignificant spider bite proves to be a life-changing event. Whether the change is for better or for worse, has yet to be decided...
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	The Incredible Spider-Woman

**Author's Note:**

> This is original work based loosely on the stories of Spider-Man. This is my first time posting anything like this, so I am very open to constructive criticism! If you notice any inconsistencies, or just anything you think needs clarified, please don't hesitate to drop a comment for me!

Fall in New York – a beautiful time. There was nothing quite like walking through Central Park when the leaves began to change, feeling the crisp autumn air against your cheeks, seeing the vibrant red and oranges of leaves, and hearing the satisfying crunch of the fallen leaves underfoot. The changing of the seasons was always an exciting time, since the school semester was just starting to get hard and the holidays were fast approach. It wasn’t often that college couples were able to grab this precious bit of time with each other, but the two walking over the bridge now were lucky enough too. He was a handsome man, with his hair trimmed short on top and a fade on the sides, and warm, melted chocolate eyes to match. Lean frame, but well built all the same, he stood just under six feet in height. He was quite the catch, and she knew it, even before he had grown into his features. The sharp jawline that had caused many women (and men) to swoon hadn’t come around until a few years earlier, after their first year in college.

She was shorter than him by almost a foot, shoulder length dusty blonde hair. She had no desire to portray herself as any taller than she was, so she wore flats. Olive-green eyes peered out from black rectangular frames, taking in the sights of the park as they crested the bridge. Today was turning out to be perfect, and nothing short of a disaster could change that.

Taylor Todd squeezed the hand of her boyfriend as they rounded a corner. He looked down at her, eyebrow raising in question and she indicated a vacant bench nearby, tugging him towards it. “Come on, I want to rest my feet a little,” she insisted, a hint of complaining in her voice. They had been walking ever since they left their apartment, forgoing the subway in favor of the fresh air – or as fresh as it could get in the city.

Andres Ackerman complied, a soft smile grace his features as he allowed his girlfriend to guide him to the bench. As they sat down, Taylor leaned into Andres’ chest. He draped his arm around her shoulders and they relaxed into each other, taking in the fall colors and the other people walking around the park. After a few moments of silence, Taylor reached for Andres free hand, lacing their fingers together. She smiled as she looked at the overlapping fingers, pale meeting dark. She loved the contrast between their skin tones, she would often splay her hand across his chest or his back just to marvel at it.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” she whispered, not looking up from their intertwined hands. He took a moment to answer, sliding his hand up and down her upper arm once. He was always so warm, every where he touched her was like being kissed by the sun.

“Well, I’m thinking about how I’m simply surrounded by all this beauty,” he began. Taylor closed her eyes, listening to the vibrations in his chest as he spoke. His deep voice was soothing – she could hardly believe that this man – this wonderful man, who was all hers – used to be that scrawny little kid with the squeaky voice on the community basketball team all those years ago. “New York is such a beautiful city, Central Park is a beautiful park,” he continued, squeezing her hand gently. “Of course, the company is gorgeous.” Taylor could hear the smile in his voice and she opened her eyes, sitting back up slightly she could look at him. The mirth dancing in his eyes surged her forward to plant a kiss on his lips. He kissed her back, reluctant to let her pull away.

“Shall we grab lunch before you have to head over to the hospital for your shift?” she asked, nuzzling back into his chest. She breathed in deeply, taking in his scent – his soap, moisturizer, cologne. The shift she was speaking about was the start of what was going to be a very long year for the both of them as Andres began his residency under one of the top cardiovascular surgeons in the country. It was his dream to become one of the best, and Taylor wanted to make sure he would be able to do it by making his residency as painless as possible. It called for long days and nights, many times away from Taylor and their apartment. But it would be worth it.

Andres gave a deep sigh. “I suppose we should,” he answered, tilting his head to rest his cheek on the top of her head. “Any place in mind?” His breath tickled her hair.

Taylor shook her head, “but it should be something quick. Any street vendor selling sandwiches or hot dogs should do. We can eat on the way. And I’ll just take the subway back home.”

“Sounds like an excellent plan,” Andres responded, lifting his head and untangling their hands. Taylor stood up, straightening her overcoat. Andres followed suit, reaching for her hand. They started in the direction of the hospital, knowing they would meet up the street food vendors as soon as the exited the park. Many people preferred to buy their food and then enjoy it the park, usually on one of the many benches. Many more New Yorkers liked to eat on the move, favoring the finger food the street vendors were famous for.

As they finished their walk, they saw several more couples, a group of children playing tag among the trees – these delightful sights brought smiles to their faces. Taylor and Andres were also visited by a handful of curious and happy dogs, often called back to their owners with a whistle after the friendly sniff. Taylor knew she would cherish this memory for a long time. As they approached the vendor for their New York style hotdogs, Taylor tried to memorize everything she could about Andres, from the way he walked and the sound of his voice, the way he gave her a half smile as he paid. If she could recreate him in her mind while he was going to scarce, maybe she wouldn’t feel his absence as strongly.

There was of course her own work to be considered. Despite graduating, Taylor was staying on at the university as Dr. Kippers lab assistant. His research in the genetic modification needed more than one pair of hands, and they needed to be consistent. Taylor had been working with Dr. Kipper since the beginning of junior year, along with a handful of other classmates. Rodney, Nia, and Haun had become Taylor’s good friends as they worked with Dr. Kipper. He had given them the summer off however, urging them to look at other opportunities. “There’s more to science than me,” he had told them. “Maybe you’ll find something you like better.”

Taylor hadn’t, and she hoped the others hadn’t either. She would miss them if they left. They had texted and met up all summer, going on double dates with each other, hunting out the best spots in New York for fun, and visiting each others apartments. They would still see each other, she was sure, but it wouldn’t be the same.

Taylor snapped out of her reverie as Andres handed her a hotdog and a fizzy drink. “Thank you.” She took a small bit of her hot dog as Andres retrieved his own from the vendor. They started walking again, not quite as briskly as before. They still had some time to enjoy their food before they made it to the hospital. Taylor certainly ate more slowly than her counterpart – Andres had practically inhaled his hotdog before the next block, balling up the foil wrapping and tossing it into a nearby trashcan. It soared straight in, and he grinned at Taylor as they came to halt at the cross walk. “Still got it,” he crowed. She rolled her eyes but smiled as she did so. 

“Did you ever really lose it?” she asked playfully, taking a sip of her drink. Andres copied her, swishing it around for a moment as he though. He swallowed and shook his head. “No, I don’t think I ever did,” he said happily.

While he had stopped playing basketball after they had finished high school, Andres had never lost his shine for it, and on the rare occasion they were in town and available, still got together with his old friends from the community team to shoot a few hoops. Taylor herself had never been athletically inclined, but she had been known to dribble the ball around a little when Andres and the boys were done, using hand towels to mop off the sweat from their brows and to take long draws from their water bottles. 

Andres sighed and stuffed his hands into his pockets as the crosswalk light lit up green, and he and Taylor started across the street with the others who had been waiting. Taylor followed his gaze to look at the upcoming hospital. He must be thinking about how long this shift will be, she thought, taking another bite out of her hot dog. Andres loved what he did – he loved helping people. But the long hours…Taylor knew it was tough on him, especially for him to be away from her for so long, even if they were in the same room. The studying, the practicals, the clinicals – they tended to meld together in one hazy mess of med school and beyond.

“You know, I still have to catch up on the latest season of ‘The Wandering Dead’. I doubt I’ll even notice you’re gone. Besides I’ll have my own work to entertain me. Dr. Kippers wants to start genetic splicing on actual creatures this upcoming week. He mentioned something about arachnid eggs being the most plausible specimens,” she shuddered. Bugs in general were creepy, but spiders, with all those legs and eyes, almost unnatural.

One eyebrow ticked up in amusement, Andres looked down at his girlfriend. “Well they’ll be eggs,” he pointed out, guiding her around a mailman who was leafing through a stack of letters. She shrugged while she chewed on another bite of hotdog, swallowing before she continued.

“Yes, but they’ll have to hatch, eventually, especially if we want to see if the genetic splicing had an effect, and to see if the spiders could live a healthy, normal life.” They came to a stop at another crosswalk. The hospital was on the next block, so Taylor quickly finished off the rest of her hotdog.

“This is true, but, they will be contained in a lab setting. All you’re doing is looking at them, right? Through a clear glass box. You might even get attached to them,” he said jokingly, nudging her with his elbow.

Taylor shuddered, swallowing and balling up her empty tin foil with one hand. “Perish the thought,” she muttered, taking a sip of her drink. They started across the crosswalk, Taylor threading her arm around Andres, lighting wrapping her fingers around the inside of his elbow. They came to the entrance of the hospital, and Andres sighed once more, looking up at the huge building.

“It’ll fly once you get started,” Taylor promised, looking up at him and smiling. He met her gaze, returning the smile with one of his own. “I’m sure it will,” he murmured, bending over to give her a quick kiss. “I should get in there. You’ll take the subway home?”

Taylor nodded, releasing his arm and dropping hers to her side. She watched him walk the last few hundred feet to the hospital, waiting until he disappeared from view before turning around. The next subway stop wasn’t too far away, a block and a half to the west. The afternoon was lovely enough for a walk, even though she had indicated to Andres that she would take the subway, Taylor opted not to turn on the path that would lead her to the subway entrance. She traced their steps from this morning, taking the time to pause and look in the windows of the shops. Even on a Sunday, New York was still a busy place, so Taylor made sure to make herself as small as possible so those who seemed to be in a rush could get around her.

Taylor couldn’t imagine what was so important that she would find herself in a rush like that, taking the time at a crosswalk to take note of those checking their watches. It was almost like a tick, every few seconds, someone else’s arm went up and their sleeve was pulled back, which triggered someone else to do the same. As soon as the crosswalk light lit up green, they were off, almost like racehorses, loafers tapping the against the pavement, accompanied by the click-clack of the heels.

Being of the scientific profession, Taylor never had to dress up like the business men and women she saw everyday on the way to and from work. She had to make herself presentable, of course, but when whatever you were wearing was covered up by a lab coat for most of the day, and might possibly get something spilled on it, the degree of fancy dropped a little. The hair, the make up – Taylor could put the time and effort into it, as her fellow ladies did, but what was the point when hair had to be pulled back and goggle had to be worn? Taylor preferred to save her talents for beautification for when she and Andres had to attend one of his parents many charity ball. On days like these, Taylor liked to stock of the new makeup trends and hairstyles, taking note of what she might want to try in the future.

Legs aching, feet throbbing, Taylor finally reached their apartment building. Maybe she should have taken the subway, for at least part of the way. She dreamed of the couch where she could throw up her legs and give the lower half of her body a rest. She was hungry as well – the hotdog seemed ages ago and the last of her drink had been enjoyed as she made her way back through the park, depositing both the cup and the tin foil in a nearby receptacle.

The doorman greeted her jovially has he let her in, “beautiful day, Ms. Todd!” He tipped his hat to her, and she dipped her head to him. “Yes, it is, Mr. Floyd. Have a good evening.”

The lobby of their building was empty, and for that Taylor was grateful. Many of their neighbors loved to talk, sometimes for hours, and Taylor wasn’t quite sure if she had an hour long discussion about the weather or the crime rates. She headed straight for the elevators – her and Andres apartment was on the 11th floor of this building, and after all the walking she had just done, she certainly not going to be running up those stairs.

She patiently awaited for the elevator to come down – in an older building like this, there was only one, so sometimes it had to be waited on, especially in a fifteen story building with four apartments on each floor. The ding announcing its arrival eased some of the tension off her shoulders. The doors split open and Taylor stepped inside, turning on the balls of her feet and reaching out to press the button marked with the number 11. It lit up yellow under her touch and she stepped back into the righthand corner.

The quite hum of the elevators moving parts paired with the faint, crackly elevator music made it easy for Taylor to rest her body into the corner. The elevator chimed every time it passed a floor, so Taylor closed her eyes and counted the chimes, opening her eyes once she reached eleven and the elevator came to stop.

The floor was quiet. Taylor stuck her hand into the left pocket of her slacks, pulling out her keys. It was easy to pick out the key that opened the apartment door – it was the biggest on the ring. She singled it out and slid it into the lock, turning it until she heard the bolt slide out of home. She pushed down on the lever of the handle and the door opened. Wresting her key from the lock with one hand, she flipped the light switch with the other, quickly illuminating the apartment. She closed the door gently behind her, locking it up once more.

The keys clinked together as she deposited them into the crystal bowl that sat on the small table by the door. She began undoing the buttons of her coat, surveying the empty apartment. She and Andres were tidy people, for the most part. An afghan was thrown haphazardly across the back of the couch, an open textbook of Andres was open on the coffee table, a sheaf of papers beside it, covered in pencil and pen marks. Taylor shrugged off her overcoat, walking over to the coat closet by the door. She removed one of the empty hangers and put her coat on it, returning the hanger to its place on the pole. She slipped out of her flats, setting them underneath her coat. The door creaked as she closed it.

A quiet evening before beginning her work week, maybe it was just what she needed, given the team would be reconvening after a summer apart and beginning a new direction in their research. Taylor retrieved her phone from her back pocket as she walked to the kitchen, the only sound being the quick taps as she input her password and the swish of pant legs rubbing together. She swiped through several mundane notifications, deleted needless emails and finally opened up the music app she kept. Within moments, a soft voice filled the space with her. Music made it seem like she wasn’t so alone in the apartment, and it made her far more motivated to hunt through the cabinets for something to put on for dinner.

She settled on a prepackaged rice meal- it promised a quick and easy preparation and an easy clean up. While she put on the pot to boil, she turned on the TV to catch a glimpse of the evening news. She set it at a volume where she could easily tune it out or in if something caught her eye. For the most part it was the same news it was every week – a store had been robbed, a mugging had occurred, a car accident had taken place somewhere in the city. Different names, different pictures, but it was still the same old New York.

It would never change.

~~

The next morning was a blur as Taylor readied herself for work. The train was running later than usual, and the grumpy crowd of Monday morning commuters was grumpier as the wait time dragged on. Dr. Kippers wouldn’t mind if she were late, so she wasn’t as antsy as the rest of them.

“Scientists are always late,” Dr. Kippers had once told her as she apologized for her tardiness, waving her away to his station. “And when we run late, we have the best epiphanies.”

Taylor smiled fondly at the memory, checking the arrival time on the overhead board. Ten more minutes until she was back in the old lab, working on their newest project. She had emailed Dr. Kippers last night after she had washed up after dinner, so that he knew to expect her. She hoped the others would show, but she hadn’t received any correspondence from any of them that indicated they would be returning.

The train came to a shuddering halt, the doors opening and the flood of people exiting the car gave Taylor more room to breathe. Fewer people embarked, and there was brief shuffle as those standing took seats that were empty, and those seated scooched to make room for the newcomers. Taylor chose to remain standing, as her stop was the next one. She gave courtesy smiles to anyone she made eye contact with, but quickly returned her attention to the phone in the palm of her hand.

Andres had texted her last night at 3AM, one of the many coffee breaks, no doubt. It was just sweet nothings, and Taylor was responded in kind, hoping he would see them and smile. After hitting the send button, she tucked the phone into her jacket pocket. She straightened her clothes as she prepared to exit the train, swaying with the motion of the subway car as she did so. As the train came to another slow stop, she pushed her glasses back up her nose. The crackly announcers voice announced Taylor’s stop and the doors opened, and she surged forward with the others, stepping onto the platform.

Taylor wrinkled her nose at the smell of the subway and picked up the pace a little. Emerging from the underground, she took a deep breath of the city air. It honestly wasn’t much better than the underground air, with the smog and all, but at least it didn’t stink like trash and rat droppings. She hurried towards the dilapidated building that housed Dr. Kippers off-campus lab. They had started this project on campus, but when Dr. Kippers had decided to continue it, the school had told him he needed a more permanent place. They still received their funding from the grants Dr. Kippers got through the school, but they had more lab room and didn’t have to worry about sharing it with anyone.

She bounced up the steps and pulled her ID badge off the lapel of her jacket, swiping it in front of card reader. It beeped merrily and the door clicked as the lock released. Taylor quickly opened the door. It swung shut behind her with a bang and she made her way up the stairs. This had been an apartment building that had been ruined in a fire many years ago. The company that had owned it had sold it as a loss to the school for the Firefighting seminars held by the university. For many summers, droves of students came to study the burn patterns. After years of being subjected to weather, however, the building was condemned, no longer suitable for people to stand in. So the school had revamped it, turning the lower levels into sleeping quarters and a kitchen, while the upper floor consisted of a large lab area, with the best equipment that could be afforded to them.

Taylor and the others had often spent many days and nights, especially near the end of the schooling. The only shower in the building was the decontamination shower in the lab. Never once had it been used for decontamination. Dr. Kippers had always been so proud of how careful his graduate students were, they held the longest running record for an accident-free lab. Their results were published in journals, and the five of them had even won awards for their work. Taylor remembered all the times they had posed together, the students with their professor, all crowded around who ever had been picked to hold the placard, all smiling big for the camera.

These placards and pictures hung on the wall all the way up the staircase. Taylor smiled as she looked at them as she walked past. She could hear voices upstairs so she quickened her pace, excited to see the others. She reached for the handle to the lab room, she tried to peer through the thin window in the door. The talking became louder as the door swung open but ceased as she entered.

“Taylor!” The delighted voice came from her right and she looked to see Dr. Kippers leaning against the desk. Sitting on the stool that was normally tucked under the desk was Nia, who grinned at Taylor.

“Dr. Kippers, Nia,” she greeted. They exchanged hugs and began to exchange stories of their summer adventures. Taylor shared tidbits of her domestic life with Andres, his succession to a resident and how they had celebrated their graduation from school. Nia shared details of the European trip her parents had gifted her, pulling up the pictures on her phone.

After a while, the conversation died down, and Taylor looked over her shoulder at the door. “Rodney and Haun aren’t coming back, are they?” She and Nia turned to look at Dr. Kippers, and he sighed, nodding, “Haun found a job in his home country and Rodney moved down south. He always wanted to work with the CDC.” There was a moment of pause as the trio allowed themselves to miss the two that would have made them a quintet again. 

Dr. Kippers pushed away from the desk, clapping his hands together. “Well, we can still do great work without them. Ms. Todd and Ms. Waters, I believe we have some genetic splicing at hand. Shall we begin setting up?”

Preparing the lab for the continuation of their research took the rest of the day. After Nia and Taylor had put away their jackets and pulled on their lab coats, the two of them got to work. They pulled out new notebooks, ensured they had a stock of fresh pens that worked, tested all the equipment and started the calibration sequence for them. The sounds of beeping and whirring filled the lab. Dr. Kippers brought up fresh coffee and a takeout menu for lunchtime, and Nia and Taylor fell into an easy rhythm with each other.

“I can’t believe we’re actually moving into living trials.” Nia shook her head in disbelief, checking on the status of the agitators. Taylor was setting up the new tanks Dr. Kippers had purchased over the summer for the their test subjects. She looked over to Nia as she spoke, making a noise of agreement. Taylor had to stand on her tiptoes in order to insert the dividers. After she was done, she stood back to make sure they had been set in evenly.

“I wonder if he’s already got the eggs we’ll be using.” Taylor set the lid carefully atop of the tank. She brushed off the top of it and then rubbed the dust off on her lab coat. She and Nia looked around to see if they could see a container that would hold biological specimens. “Maybe not.” Taylor shrugged.

“He probably wanted to make sure the lab was ready first.” Nia picked up a few empty boxes from where they sat at her feet. “Help me take these out to the dumpster, Dr. Kippers will be back soon with lunch.” Taylor nodded and reached for another couple empty boxes. The empty carboard rustled with the discarded plastic and Styrofoam inside. The two of them made their way carefully down the stairs, their view obstructed by their loads. To get to the dumpsters they went through the bottom floors and the kitchen. There was a backdoor that lead to the alley behind the lab in the kitchen. It saved them from having to go out the front door and around the building. It was also safer overall, especially at night.

Nia went first while Taylor waited by the door, having deposited her boxes on the kitchen table. The door opened to a steep set of two steps, and then the alley floor. To the right of the building was the exit way into the side street. The left was where the dumpsters were kept, one for trash and one for recycling. Taylor waited while Nia separated out the boxes from the reset, dumping them into their respective receptacles, and opening the door further for her to re-enter as she came back. Then it was Taylor’s turn to walk the boxes to the bin while Nia watched. It was a fairly effective system, given that the door locked itself upon shutting. They all had a key of course, in case they were accidently locked out, but the nuisance of walking out a bag of trash, having to unlock the door, and do it again was a rather annoying process.

Taylor was glad Nia had returned. The familiar sound of her voice and the scent of the coconut body wash the other girl favored reminded her of their younger years spent in this house. She would certainly miss the boys – their antics made the days more amusing.

Hopping up the steps, Taylor took the door from Nia as the other backed away to let her in the house. They were done setting up the lab, so they turned to setting up the kitchen for lunch. Given it was their first day back, and only Dr. Kippers had been in the lab over the summer, there wasn’t much in the cabinets or the fridge. Taylor picked out a few diet sodas from the fridge – why Dr. Kippers drank these like they were his heroin, she would never understand – while Nia rinsed off the plates and cups they would be using. They had just finished setting the table up when they heard a clamor by the front door, and they shared a knowing look and a smile.

Dr. Kippers always managed to knock over the umbrella stand by the front door. It didn’t matter if he was carrying something or not, down it went, with whatever poor victim umbrellas were inside it. They had tried to convince him to move it after the first couple of times, but the man had utterly refused. “I need to learn to respect its space, that’s all.” Four years later, here they were, listening to Dr. Kippers mutter under his breath as he reset the stand.

“Do you need any help Dr. Kippers?” Taylor called down the hallway. Nia stifled a giggle as she set a stack of napkins down in the middle of the table.

“Not necessary!” The doctor called back cheerfully. Moments later, with a shuffling of plastic bags, he appeared in the doorway of the kitchen. His cheeks were rosy from the wind on his walk, his salt and pepper hair windswept. He set the takeout bags down on the table and moved back out into the hallway to remove his coat and scarf. Nia and Taylor began to take the food out of the bags, setting the containers down where everyone could reach. The appetizing smell of Chinese food filled the small kitchen, and soon, so did the chorus of chattering amongst the three scientists.

They had made it a rule long ago not to talk shop while they were eating – too many of the things they worked on could turn the stomach, even unexpectedly. So they continued their conversation from earlier, delving deeper into the details of their summers, and what they hoped the fall would bring.

“Now,” Dr. Kippers sighed, setting down his fork and patting his belly satisfactorily. “I would like to give the two of you some good news.” Nia and Taylor looked at each other, Taylor with her fork poised over a takeout box and Nia with the can of soda nearly to her lips. “Since you two have officially graduated and with the loss of our other two technicians-“ the quick glance to the two empty chairs was enough to make Taylor feel sad for a moment. Dr. Kippers had handpicked the four of them when they started their scientific schooling after completing the necessary general studies for their associate degrees. All four of them had started in their high schools, meeting up at the university as a handful of the youngest beginning their masters degrees at 18. Dr. Kippers had practically raised them as scientists, right here at this table. Taylor shook herself out the memories and back to the present, where Dr. Kipper continued to speak, “- I can afford to give the two of you a substantial raise!”

“That’s wonderful news!” Nia exclaimed, setting down her drink. “I’ve been needing to get a new laptop, the old one’s reliable but a bit slow.”

Dr. Kippers nodded, a smile growing on his face. “In this day in age, every scientist needs to keep a good laptop. That’s where everything is done these days. You know, if you would like, my dear, I know someone down at the electronics store on 23rd…”

Taylor tuned out their conversations while she stuck her fork back into the takeout container. She didn’t really need the money, not like Nia might. Both her and Andres parents were well off, and they made sure their children had everything they needed for success. Andres parents were proud of their accomplishments, Taylors parents, at least for her fathers part in it, was most likely guilt.

Taylor’s mother had passed away when she was about ten, leaving Taylor and Mr. Raymond Todd very alone. Her father was a prominent small business leader in New York, helping prop up family stores and restaurants when it looked like they might be going under. His toy store never failed to keep business, and around Christmas was when it really boomed for him, and he was more than happy to share the wealth. After his wife Caroline had passed away of cancer, he had been devasted, and could hardly manage the store. Those business he had helped had stepped in for him, helping with the upkeep of the store, making sure his finances were straight, so he could take of Taylor and grieve.

Taylor remembered those awful months when her father had seemed barely alive himself. Meals were dull and tasteless, the house fell into disarray, the windows hardly ever seemed open. It was the barber from down the street that had convinced her dad to go to the store at least once a week and play with the children that came in, as he always did. Those days were the best, Taylor recalled. Her father would come home with some delicious smelling treat for her and it almost felt normal, until he would see something of her mothers, and then he fell back into his depression.

It was on one of these days that Eun Ae had come into the store, looking for some gift to commemorate her brother’s graduation from grade school. While they hadn’t hit off right away, Taylor could tell the difference right away. Her father seemed more attuned to life in general, seemed more eager to return to work. Eun Ae had been at a loss finding the gift and her father had suggesting bringing her brother in to pick something out for himself. So it began, Eun Ae would bring her brother in weekly, even when he grew tired of toy store. Eventually, the pair began to date.

When they had wed when Taylor was twelve, Eun Ae had made sure she was involved, taking her to dress fittings and the flower selection appointments. Taylor had been bitter that her father was moving on so quickly, and she resented Eun Ae for trying to take her mothers place. But when Eun Ae had moved in, Taylor had seen that she was wrong. Eun Ae made no attempt to replace Taylors mother. She simply dusted off and shined the photograph frames, straightening the ones that hung on the walls. Eun Ae never tried to parent Taylor, never offered her two-cents unless it was asked of her, even after she and Raymond had married. When she and Raymond became pregnant, Eun Ae sat Taylor down first to explain.

“We are not replacing you,” she started. “We’re simply adding more love.”

Taylor had cried, not believing her step-mother. Even after her father had tried to reassure her, she had packed her little suitcase and tried to run away. She had barely gotten half-way down the block before a police officer had stopped her and asked her where she was going. Eun Ae and Raymond had opened the door with faces of confusion, eyes flickering between the officer and Taylor.

After a quick discussion with the officer, Raymond and Eun Ae had decided that what Taylor was needed was therapy – someone to talk out her feelings with. Her therapists name was Rachel, and she was very friendly and understanding. She had been her therapist until Sena was born. Taylor loved having a little sister. Eun Ae, as a first time mother, was delighted to have the help, and was encouraged by Taylor’s positive reaction to the baby. 

While Eun Ae could never replace Caroline, Taylor did share a maternal bond with her. She had never been comfortable calling Eun Ae mom, so Eun Ae had suggested omma as a substitute, and it was from there that their relationship was built on steady ground. Eun Ae had made sure Taylor looked perfect in her prom dress, cried at her graduation, had cried in her empty room when Taylor moved out of the house. She made sure to make her favorite dinners when she came to visit. Taylor’s confidant about boys, sex, and all the other secrets Taylor just couldn’t go to her father with had always been Eun Ae.

Sena was almost nine now. Taylor wasn’t really sure if her sister understood that they had different mothers. She must have noticed that they were pictures in the house that had Raymond with another woman, that Taylor did share the same soft almond shape of her eyes. Sena probably didn’t care – they had never made a big deal about their family being as mixed as it was. Sena loved her mom and dad, and her big sister, and she loved her big sisters boyfriend. Sena was just a happy child, and Taylor hoped it would stay that way.

Her father and Eun Ae had supported her throughout her schooling, paying the tuition bill on time, make sure she had a roof over her head, and congratulating her with every milestone she reached. When she and Andres moved into together, they were excited. The little girl who had once bounded around in pig tails was growing into a fine young woman. She hoped to continue to make them proud, she’d do what it took make sure that was going to happen.

Taylor came back to the present, where Nia and Dr. Kippers were getting up from the table, collecting the trash and sorting the leftovers. She got up to pitch in, ready to get started on the second half of their day.


End file.
